Innovative Perspectives: Frontal Komasts in Black-Figure Vase Painting (20 min)

Presenters

Monica K. Bulger, Boston College

Abstract

Throughout the Archaic period, when the profile perspective was conventional and vision was understood to be an almost tactile sense, frontal figures carried a particular power over their viewers. Characters who peered out from the surfaces of black-figure vases were exceptional and captivating. Scholars often dismiss these figures as masked anomalies or derivatives of the ever-frontal gorgon. This paper repositions frontal figures as evidence of archaic artists’ inventiveness. Through an examination of frontal-facing komasts on archaic Attic black-figure vases, the author shows that the daring artisans who experimented with frontality in the mid-sixth century B.C.E. intentionally used the perspective to set their work apart.

The paper first discusses two black-figure vase painters who included frontal-facing komasts in their compositions with notable frequency. The Palazzolo Painter was the only member of the Komast group who painted frontal komasts on his cups, distinguishing his products from the otherwise uniform group made by his peers. Similarly, the Guglielmi Painter included frontal komasts on his amphorae more often than his colleagues in the Tyrrhenian group, making his work more recognizable. Other signs of innovation in these craftsmen’s oeuvres are reviewed to further illuminate their originality. The paper then addresses previous interpretations of these komasts as masked figures or satyrs. Using close visual analysis, the author disputes these explanations and instead suggests that the Palazzolo Painter and Guglielmi Painter deliberately turned their komasts’ faces outward, embracing frontal figures as a kind of signature to differentiate their work. Overall, the paper demonstrates how innovative archaic artisans used frontality to exercise their creativity and distinguish their products.